MASONIC BIOGRAPHIES FAMOUS FREEMASONS

James Cash Penney J.C. Penney Foundation Archives September 16, 1875 - February 12, 1971 Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I'll give you a man who will make history. Give me a man with no goals and I'll give you a stock clerk. Opening his first department store on April 14, 1902, J.C. Penney went public in 1927, giving all his store managers shares and later including all his employees in corporate profit-sharing. By 1971 J.C. Penney’s had 1660 stores in North America. A devout Christian—he published 50 Years with the Golden Rule (1950)—he gave generously to his favorite charities, establishing a 120,000 acre scientific farming community in Florida, the Memorial Home Community, a 60-acre residential community for retired ministers, lay church workers, missionaries, their wives and families, and the J.C. Penney Foundation to assist religious, scientific and educational projects. In 1954 he established the James C. Penney Foundation to support organizations addressing issues of community renewal, the environment, and world peace. In 1957, Penney became a charter member of the Distributive Education Clubs of America, helped found and funded Junior Achievement Clubs, and endowed a chair at Westminster College in Missouri. A few years before his death he donated his Guernsey herd and a large endowment to the University of Missouri for the support of improved dairy farming. Initiated: Wasatch Lodge No. 1, Salt Lake City Masonic reference: Denslow

ANTI-MASONRY | FAMOUS FREEMASONS | HOME | ESSAYS & PAPERS | SITEMAP

© 1871-2023 Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon A.F. & A. M. Updated: 2002/04/02 freemasonry.bcy.ca/biography/penney_j/penney_j.html